A survey-experiment study on school bullying victims' reactions and teachers’ serious perception and intervention willingness

Teachers play an essential role in school bullying prevention. This study investigates teachers' perceived seriousness and willingness to intervene in school bullying using a survey-experimental design. Twenty conjoint scenarios were designed based on five types of victims' reactions (crying, fighting back, seeking help, pretending nothing happened, no description) and four forms of bullying (physical, verbal, relational, and cyber). Cyberbullying is perceived as the most serious. Physical bullying elicits the highest willingness to intervene. Teachers' perceived seriousness significantly varies according to victims' reactions, except for relational bullying. However, teachers' willingness to intervene does not differ significantly based on victims’ reactions. •Bullying types are more likely to affect teachers' perceived seriousness and intervention willingness than victims' reactions.•Cyberbullying ranks the highest, following physical, verbal, and relational bullying for teachers' perceived severity.•Regarding intervention willingness, physical bullying attracts the highest attention, while cyberbullying is the second.•A teacher's empathy can be increased by a victim's “crying” reaction and then increases their willingness to intervene.•The victim's "fighting back" reaction can increase a teacher’s willingness to intervene.